Saturday, July 21, 2007

Audit: Iraqi military base lacks fuel, power

Above: Iraqi Army soldiers stand guard at the watchtower of the al Rasheed base.

A shortage of electricity and fuel at an Iraqi military base has led to deteriorating equipment, difficulties with medical care and spoiled food that sent Iraqi troops to the hospital, a U.S. report says.

The assessment, delivered by Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, said the Al Rasheed Brigade facility was not receiving enough electrical power from the city grid and was relying on generators. But contractors were not supplying enough fuel to keep the five generators going, leading to failures in the wastewater processing and refrigeration systems.

In the most significant incident, the report said 300 Iraqis were hospitalized with intestinal illnesses after eating bad food. The report added that "emergency medical care is severely affected by insufficient power."